Choosing DO with MD acceptance?

[aquaboy]

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I occasionally hear stories of people who get accepted to both allopathic and osteopathic schools and choose to go the DO route. I wonder sometimes if a lot of these stories are rumors (i'm sure some of them are true). I was wondering if anybody on this forum has done this. No stories, like "I heard there's a student at CCOM that was accepted at Harvard and chose CCOM over Harvard". I want the personal stories from you or close friends. I am just curious because I have been accepted to both and want to see others takes on similar situations.😀

 

[xoomn]

Yup, I have gotten accepted to Columbia and Howard till now, but I am waiting to get accepted into NSU-COM in Florida and want to attend NSU-COM. 🙂

 

[Medic2MD]

I highly doubt you have gotten accepted to Columbia considering they do not send any acceptances until Feb. 15.

 

[shindog]

Got accepted to a several MD and DO schools. Chose to go DO based on quality of education of the school I am at. If you want more info on SLU, check out a pevious post of mine. My advice is to steer clear. I would definitely choose a few DO schools over SLU.

 

[aquaboy]

Originally posted by shindog
Got accepted to a several MD and DO schools. Chose to go DO based on quality of education of the school I am at.

What allopathic schools were you accepted at? SLU? Why steer clear? Thanks.

 

[dogirl]

My friend is a M1 at Nova and he chose it over MD schools because according to him "he was blown away by the facilities which were more advanced than any other school visited"

 

[Pitt Panther]

I'll second that!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Originally posted by Medic2MD
I highly doubt you have gotten accepted to Columbia considering they do not send any acceptances until Feb. 15.

haha owned predo liar

 

[shindog]

Originally posted by aquaboy
What allopathic schools were you accepted at? SLU? Why steer clear? Thanks.

My previous message in "anyone at SLU" thread:

St. Louis = Good: SLU = No Good
The following informaiton is mostly first-hand, with some second-hand mixed in. I am from St. Louis - lived there my whole life until this year. I went to SLU for undergrad and did research at WashU for two years before med school.
First about the city: St. Louis is a great place to live = medium-sized-city, best sports town in America, all midwestern cities try to be like St. Louis (except Chicago of course), great restaurants, one of the best zoos in the country (free admission too), second largest park in the country (Forest Park), generally friendly folks, slightly liberal, decent public transportation, many great ethnic neighborhoods, etc.
The bad = crime in the inner city (this is standard for all big cities though), hot summers, cold winters, bad roads. People from the coasts always complain about not having enough to do, but there are many hidden gems in St. Louis and enough to keep you busy as a young adult or growing family. Many great outdoor destinations only a short drive away.
About the med school: Great if you are thinking about neuro, orthopedics, or neurosurgery (Dr. Young is one of the most famous neurosurgeons ever - he wrote the book on the brain).
I have several (>20) friends that are either there now or have graduated already. The teaching is really hit or miss. Some classes are outstanding and others are piss poor. Last year over 20 students failed the USMLE Step I. Unfortunately, the dean and president do not care much about the students' interests. The facilities look nice on the outside, but are very old. The school sold their hosptial a couple years ago, but still have clinical rotation and residency privileges. However, quality of residency training has declined rapidly.
The school seems to have conflicting admssions guidelines - I know people with great numbers, interviews, ECs, grades, etc., that did not get in. Seems to be some politics going on.
Anyway, a lot of the residency programs are in shambles. Lots of unhappy residents with bad board certification pass/fail rates.

Obviously, all these are generalizations of sorts - I'm sure you can find some students/residents that totally disagree with me. My information comes from friends in the school, professors that I know personally, contacts from having lived in St. Louis my whole life, and experiences at the medical school as an undergrad.

And no - I am not disgruntled because I didn't get accepted there. I actually got accepted there but chose to go to another school. And a D.O. at that. So I'm living proof that people do turn down MD schools for DO schools. BUT I digress- I'll leave that for another thread.

I hope that answers most of your questions. If you need any more info about St. Louis or SLU let me know.


PS I got accepted to Loyola Chicago, Creighton, SLU and OSU, CCOM, KCOM, DMU, UHS

 

[rbassdo]

Was accepted to MSU-COM, KCOM, and Wayne State University.

KCOM is hands down the finest school of the bunch - except for some Wayne rotations (urban Detroit). I was totally unimpressed with MSU-COM and had a terrible experience with the MSU dean on the golf course...yes...the golf course.

 

[aquaboy]

Originally posted by shindog
My previous message in "anyone at SLU" thread:

PS I got accepted to Loyola Chicago, Creighton, SLU and OSU, CCOM, KCOM, DMU, UHS

Shindog,
Were you accepted and attending OSU-COM? Were you accepted at Ohio State or does the OSU mean OSU-COM. That would be hard to turn down an acceptance to a top school like Loyola. I'm glad that you are happy where you are at. Why did you choose an osteopathic school over Loyola? What did it offer or have you always wanted to be a DO? One of the problems I have with osteopathic schools are those ridiculous $1000 deposits due within a short while after your acceptance. They don't give you time to view your options before you give them $1000 non-refundable. That's bogus, if you ask me. I will most liekly turn down my DO acceptance because of this fact. If I had more time to weigh my options then I could make a better decision.🙁

 

[shindog]

Originally posted by aquaboy
Shindog,
Were you accepted and attending OSU-COM? Were you accepted at Ohio State or does the OSU mean OSU-COM. That would be hard to turn down an acceptance to a top school like Loyola. I'm glad that you are happy where you are at. Why did you choose an osteopathic school over Loyola? What did it offer or have you always wanted to be a DO? One of the problems I have with osteopathic schools are those ridiculous $1000 deposits due within a short while after your acceptance. They don't give you time to view your options before you give them $1000 non-refundable. That's bogus, if you ask me. I will most liekly turn down my DO acceptance because of this fact. If I had more time to weigh my options then I could make a better decision.🙁

I am currently attending OSU (Oklahoma State University COM). Their deposit is only $100. Check your PM about why I chose OSU over Loyola.

 

[Behcet]

regardless of whether you choose DO or MD, don't choose based on the facilities. some of the ugliest facilites (see Charity Hospital in New Orleans) provide some of the best med school training (LSU-NO and Tulane). this is just my opinion, but choose based on 1) cost, 2) quality of faculty, 3) opportunities for learning experience (mainly, what kind of hospital is the med school attached to for 3rd/4th yr. rotations), and 4) reputation (for residency acceptance purposes, because no matter what people say, it does to some degree matter to program directors what school you come from).

 

[bokimbo]

shindog,
can you share why you didn't choose Loyola? This info would be very helpful to me.

 

[shindog]

Originally posted by bokimbo
shindog,
can you share why you didn't choose Loyola? This info would be very helpful to me.

I've been getting a lot of PM's with people asking why OSU-COM over Loyola-Chicago. Like I told a few others, Loyola is a solid medical school that places students in some very competitive residencies. I basically narrowed my choices down to Loyola, OSU-COM, and KCOM. Then I looked at some of the factors that mattered most to me. ie. location, curriculum, faculty, cost, board scores, residency placement. For me personally, OSU-COM beat out Loyola in most of these categories.

I like Chicago, but for med school I wanted a medium-sized city with low cost of living and minimal distractions. I have many close friends in Chicago, which would have demanded a lot of my time. Cost of living in Chicago is much higher than Tulsa. Tulsa has just enough things to keep me occupied without distracting from my studies. Also, doing rotations around Chicago has many advantages and disadvantages.

I liked the curriculum at OSU-COM better as well. Mostly traditional with some PBL and an entire two-year class devoted to clinical skills. From the students I spoke with at both schools, the ones at OSU-COM seemed to be more prepared for the clinics.

Both schools have great faculty. OSU-COM faculty is more geared toward teaching than research.

Cost: tuition was similar for both schools, but cost of living much less in Tulsa.

Board scores: I know this topic always opens up debate (especially since most osteopathic schools don't publicly release their stats, you have to ask them personally) But OSU-COM really does have 99-100% pass rates for COMLEX I and USMLE I. Many reasons for this - curriculum, faculty, Dr. Goljan. If you have not heard about Dr. Goljan, you probably will when studying pathology for the boards. He is THE board guru, especially for pathology. He is easily OSU-COM's biggest asset. You hate to have one professor factor into your decision, but he could make or break your board scores (which we all know are important for residency placement)

Residency placement: Loyola's record is impressive. But OSU-COM has placed residents at Yale, Mayo, Hopkins, etc. which opens doors for other OSU-COM graduates.

Finally, my family practice doc for the last ten years is a DO. His approach to patient care was one of the main reasons I wanted to become a physician. And he attributes much of his approach to his osteopathic education.

Hope this helps some of you.

As you can see, I basically chose the best school for me, regardless of MD or DO. I knew a lot about OMT before applying to med school but wasn't sure how much I would like to incorporate it into my practice. OSU-COM was the perfect fit because they don't stress OMT as much as some other osteopathic schools like DMU and KCOM. You pretty much get out of it what you put into it.

 

[emc2]

Nova does have best facilities. Outdoor olympic pool, couple of b-ball courts. Just remember that you'll need some serious stress relief during first two years. Stay away from UNTHSC DO school in fort worth. Attendings are dumb and gym is an old church.....older 70's equipment and a hodge podge micro size bball court. Plus 10+% of 2nd years failed step 1 of comlex (DO Boards)

 

[PACtoDOC]

Lets also not forget a few things that emc2 left out in his commentary. He is currently on another thread bashing his own DO school because they supposedly misdiagnosed his TB. He has issues and it is obvious. But here is why TCOM is excellent.

1) Health Science Center president is a DO just out of the Army. He was only the Surgeon General of the Army and a 3 star General.

2) TCOM has the nations leading anatomy lab with computers and CD dissections all at the same cadaver station.

3) TCOM was ranked by USNews and World Report as a top school in primary care in the US two years in a row.

4) TCOM is the DO school that is designated the research center for all DO schools and is receiving big money from NIH to proove the efficacy of manip.

5) Fort Worth is a beautiful city and it is cheap to live here.

If you are worried about the gym or the basketball court, you are going to medical school for the wrong reasons. Very few people in reality find the time to need an olympic size pool in the first two years. Our gym is completely adequate at over 10000 sqaure feet of space, excellent weights, and a great staff. It is free to us and our entire familiy.

emc2 is a disgruntled crybaby.

 

[sanny]

hey shindog-

i went to slu undergrad as well. and went on to grad school there on the medical campus. i totally agree with you on why u don't like slu med ...
then again, there are good attributes, such as dr. young. hes a very nice person and an excellent professor.
i'm glad to see someone who isnt so caught up with the letters behind your name. i am still am waiting to hear from both md and do schools. the fact that you chose the best school for you is great and i plan on doing the same.

 

[tBw]

I seriously considered both DO and MD schools. As it has worked out I will be going to an MD school because the tuition is sooooooo much lower for MD for me. I would have loved to learn OMM, as I have been treated with it myself and am a devout believer in it! However, I do not imagine using it myself in what I intend going into so the extra cost of a DO school wasn't worth it to me.

 

[aquaboy]

BUMP!!!!!!!!

 

[Crypt Abscess]

I know someone (not personally) here in Texas who I know for sure got into both MD and DO schools and opted for a DO program. She would have been in my class here at an MD school in Texas. In fact she was listed as a member of my class until the first day of school. She also posts (or used to) her diary on this website. Very sharp woman.

As for UNTHSC, it is an excellent school. Great facilities. I have worked with an OB/Gyn resident as well as a Pedi resident who both graduated from TCOM. They were both great teachers and great residents. I can't comment on their athletic facilities; however, if you want a great gym, join 24-hour fitness or Bally's, don't go to a med school for this.

As for me, I applied to all school in Texas (including TCOM), and declined my interview at TCOM after I was accepted at an MD school. At times I regret this decision. Although I am happy where I am at, I would have been just as happy (if not more) in Ft. Worth.

 

[Deuce 007 MD]

Is this even a question? Do you really want to learn OMM? If this is the case go ahead. Say you're like me and want to do path, rads, or gas,(not sure which yet) well you really need to know OMM, or well it be just an extra class you well never use? Med school is hard enough, and to add a class that runs I think 2 or 4 years that you might never use, doesn't help any. IMO I think OMM should be taught as a specialty during res, so one could go that route if they wanted to. Hell MDs would be able to do a res in OMM too.

 

[oceandocDO]

Deuce,

I think I've spent about enough time on you, but what the hell, we'll go through this again if you're so insistent on trying to show us lowly D.O.s the light 😉

OMM is a tool, and is quickly becoming a specialty college within the AOA, but a side effect of it's training is a much, much better understanding of biomechanics, anatomy, kinesiology and orthopedics. You may not believe this and I'm sure you probably never will, or never care, but it's only logical. Hence, no matter what your specialty, you'll have a much better appreciation of structure and function. Ask 10 D.O. students how many articulations are on a rib, then ask 10 M.D. students. I'll put money on the D.O.s just because they have about 300 extra hours of training in anatomy, biomechanics, etc etc. This is not a knock on M.D.s knowledge, just a estimated guess based on experience.

For someone with zero first-hand personal experience in either the allopathic or osteopathic worlds, you sure do seem to offer alot of advice.

 

[Deuce 007 MD]

Ocean

You know I love these conversations w/you. That's the only reason why I come to this forum to instigate something w/you. I admit personally haven't started school yet, and I won't start UCLA until aug. But I have a brother at NYCOM, a sister (peds), a brother inlaw (surg), and a father (surg), who always talk medicine around the dinner table. I've been surronded by this stuff all my life, I admit that I don't know much. I'm just giving my opinion, and something to think about, for those that are lucky enough to choose between do and md.

 

[oceandocDO]

Man, for the way you despise D.O.s, I'd hate to be your brother. Poor guy.

I think we all realize that there's alot of opinion on these boards, some are just more educated than others 😉

As always, thanks for the ever-stimulating conversation.

 

[Larry Renal]

Deuce:
Your contempt for OMM is based on MINIMAL exposure through your antisocial brother. If you took the time to learn anything about it, maybe YOU would be applying to DO school.
You mention your dad and brother in every single post. Do you have any thoughts of your own you'd like to add, rather than regurgitate the opinions of your family? You've already labeled yourself as a DO basher, with zero credibility, so perhaps it's time to peddle your wares someplace else.

I'm outtie quattro yo.

Larry

 

[Deuce 007 MD]

Originally posted by Larry Renal
Deuce:
Your contempt for OMM is based on MINIMAL exposure through your antisocial brother. If you took the time to learn anything about it, maybe YOU would be applying to DO school.
You mention your dad and brother in every single post. Do you have any thoughts of your own you'd like to add, rather than regurgitate the opinions of your family? You've already labeled yourself as a DO basher, with zero credibility, so perhaps it's time to peddle your wares someplace else.

I'm outtie quattro yo.

Larry

Oooooh, touchy now aren't we. I did apply to DO school as a back up, just like my brother did, at least he admits it, not like some of you OMM purist. They wanted like $500 (NYCOM) and $2,000 (TUCOM) non refundable deposit right away. I said F dat shiz, UCLA School of Medicine sounds much better w/ only a $100 refundable deposit, if you don't decide to go there/their/they're. You guys know I get a kick out of bustin ya ballz. Trust me my brother gets it alot worse being a DO student in a family full of MDs. But I'm sure when my bro is done he'll be a great doctor though, just like some of you guys well be. LBC ya later.

 

[oceandocDO]

Deuce, you have convinced me of one thing.... I've lost alot of respect for the UCLA school of medicine. Hopefully they do a better job at educating their students then screening the personalities of their applicants.

I actually know a professor there through the grapevine, of OB/Gyn, he's a D.O. Can you get your $100 back? Nice guy, sharp as a tack. Fertility specialist I think. When I see him I'll warn him about ya!

Just "bustin yo west coast ballz, G". Out.

😉

 

[luckystar]

Deuce, you might want to spellcheck your sig. I don't think you'd want to roll "threw" any hood in "strife". Not hatin' here, just wanna clarify 😉

 

[Deuce 007 MD]

Originally posted by luckystar
Deuce, you might want to spellcheck your sig. I don't think you'd want to roll "threw" any hood in "strife". Not hatin' here, just wanna clarify 😉

I told you guys my english sucks A$$.😀 I was tryin to quote that song from ice cube and mack 10. I gotta add threw/ through to my list now, thanks.

 

[aquaboy]

Since we are at the end of this application cycle I would like to see how many chose the osteopathic route with an allopathic acceptance in hand?

 

[Ca$h MaNi]

DO offered more to me in all around training and fit my philosophy of how medicine should be taught in medical school...turned down MD and chose DO.

Mani

 

[raspberry swirl]

i chose DO over MD. i withdrew all my applications from MD schools (mostly NY state schools) when i heard from my two first choices-- PCOM and LECOM. I thought both schools were amazing, but LECOM is closer to home. its not a rumor. people definitely chose DO over MD. while i never actually held an MD acceptance letter in my hand, i am confident that i still would have chosen LECOM had I waited around to receive one. you just gotta pick the school thats right for you. the DO philosophy is one i would have incorporated into my practices even if i had ended up being MD, and the students, the faculty, the location, the technology, and the price were all right for me at either LECOM or PCOM, and i can't wait to start in August!

 

[kumar28]

I was accepted to Memorial University of Newfoundland..MD school ( i am a canadian citizen) and about 4 DO schools. I chose Nova because of the facilities, the rotations, and FLORIDA MAN!! Med school is not ALL about grades and scores...its also about experiences....living life to the fullest. I feel that being in Ft. Lauderdale will offer a plethora of crazy experiences...unlike St. John's, Newfoundland.

You gotta work hard and play hard...before you know it you'll be 45 with 3 kids and a fat wife....the time to have a little fun is now people.

 

[indymed]

Raspberry Swirl,

I am applying to PCOM, what were your reasons for choosing LECOM over PCOM? What did you think of PCOM? Any tips for applying/ interviewing there? Thanks.

 

[skypilot]

Originally posted by kumar28
I chose Nova because of the facilities, the rotations, and FLORIDA MAN!! Med school is not ALL about grades and scores...its also about experiences....living life to the fullest.

Would be nice to take come to class in your sandals instead of your snowshoes!

 

[Idiopathic]

Got into fairly prestigious MD school as well as TCOM and OSU-COM (chose OSU because of proximity to family - wife and baby) Dont regret the decision to turn down prestigious school, but know that it might have opened up more career options. I am totally happy though. Just starting MS2.